


Different Points of View

by Vilya_Mariposa



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Complete, bombing aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23487562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vilya_Mariposa/pseuds/Vilya_Mariposa
Summary: Leia and her son remember a traumatic incident differently.
Kudos: 6





	Different Points of View

**Author's Note:**

> TW: This story takes place in the aftermath of a building collapse

_  
Rey knew he was there but she took her time taking the cooling pack off her face. Kylo Ren stared at her then asked, “What happened to you?”_

_She checked to see if the bacta patches were still in place. “Got caught in an explosion, turns out Leia was the target, she’s fine by the way.”_

_He narrowed his eyes, “I would know if she was not, just like I know the damage isn’t just on your face but your backside as well.” He straightened, “Was it Khaos?”_

_“How did you know? Did you…”_

_“Why did she even go back there?” he sighed and shook his head then at Rey’s look, “They tried to kill her with a bomb before. I was about five and I was left in wreckage for hours, then got shipped off to my father afterwards…”  
_

*

“Momma please? I want to stay with you!”

Leia knelt in front of her son, “Oh Ben, you wouldn’t have any fun. All boring grown up stuff. You’ll have more fun with the children here in the crèche. Okay?”

“oh okay.” He hugged her, “Then can we go play in the woods?”

Leia snuggled her son, “We will go for a walk before dinner. Just you and me. Now, go have fun.” She gave him a push and they walked off in opposite directions.

Leia stopped just before getting on the elevator, looking over her shoulder, watching him join a game with the other children, a docent looking on. She fought the urge to run in, grab him and go find a patch of nature where she could watch him chase bugs. With great reluctance she entered the elevator and headed off to do her duty, feeling regret like she never had before.

Leia had been consulting with her aide one moment and the next thing she knew she was waking up under a fallen support beam. She cried out as she felt the pain of some cracked or broken ribs and she felt something wet in her face…

BEN! 

Leia panicked for a moment, then took a few deep breaths, ignoring the fiery pain they caused her. She reached out through the Force, looking for her son and breathed a pained sigh of relief when she sensed him, frightened but in better shape than she was. She sent him all the reassuring feelings she could, then assessed where he was.

She crawled thought the wreckage, trying to avoid stepping on anyone she could see, testing her footholds and handholds before trusting her weight to any of them. She could hear rescuers both people and droids but she pushed them out of her mind, concentrating on heading to the crèche, or what was left of it.

She got the sense that the building had fallen on its side and took that in account to help her find her way to the nearly ground level crèche. 

Somewhere along the way a rescue droid found her, “Please sit still and wait for evacuation.” It chittered in three languages, its thin metal legs clicking on the wreckage.

“Have they rescued the children from the crèche?”

“Please sit still and wait for evacuation.”

Leia paused to survey the large gap in her way. The droid began beeping, “Please sit still and wait for evacuation.”

Leia groaned and began moving again to the droid’s dismay.

“Please sit still and wait for evacuation.”

“I will stop moving if I can be guaranteed the children including my own are safe.”

“Please sit still and wait for evacuation.”

Leia pushed on, then froze, thinking she had heard something. The droid chattered, “Please sit still…”

“Quiet!” she commanded it, knowing that command was programmed into all rescue droids, earning her a few seconds of silence to listen. She smiled at recognizing a bawdy Corellian drinking song, and resumed her climbing, trying to be careful, but also endeavoring to hurry.

“Please sit still and wait for evacuation.”

Leia found a sea of broken glass, and spotted the canted observation window, “BEN!” she shouted.

“MOM!”

“Stay there!” She crawled in through the observation window and found all the children huddled under a table, “Stay there children.”

She studied the wreckage while the droid repeated, “Please sit still and wait for evacuation.”

Leia bent as best as she could and peered under the table, Ben crawling through the children to meet her. She placed a kiss on his cheek, brushing dust out of his hair, “Where’s the docent?”

Ben only pointed and shook his head as he must have seen adults around him do. She glanced over and nodded, sensing no life from the docent. 

“Please sit still and wait for evacuation.” 

“How soon until evacuation?” She asked the droid.

“Estimated four hours.”

Leia privately doubted she would last that long. She sat down carefully and closed her eyes, reaching out with the Force, getting a boost when Ben put his small hands in hers.

She let go of his hands and looked at the debris stack. “Mom?”

“If I make a gap there, you can get out on the surface and down a scree slope to where the rescue units have a base set up.”

“What about you?”

“Once you get out they can send someone out to help me out.” She said looking him in the eye. “Now, give me a moment while I concentrate.” 

The wall collapsed the rest of the way but very slowly, leaving a gentle slope up and out of the room. Leia peeled Ben off her side and urged him up and over the slope.

“Mom, please.”

She kissed his forehead, “Go, don’t worry about me.” She watched him lead the scared children up and out of the building. She leaned back against an upturned table and closed her eyes, just for a moment she told herself.

When she woke up next, it was in a hospital bed, with tubes and wires running everywhere. She felt a warm body on her side and opened her eyes to see Ben tucked in her side, snoozing. She smiled and began petting his hair. He stirred and looked up at her, muttering a sleepy “Momma.” She smiled and they both went back to sleep.

Leia stirred to find Lando Calrissian standing at the foot of her bed. “Han?” she asked.

“There’s a storm between us, but we have a rendezvous scheduled. By this time tomorrow I’ll be handing Ben over to him.”

“No, Mom, Please?” Ben pleaded from his spot at her side.

Leia pulled Ben up to a seated position on the bed, “Ben, now listen to me, I still have a job to do here and there’s a lot of chaos and danger here because of the bombing, you will be safer with your father.”

“But I want to be with you,” he cried.

“I know sweetheart, but this is for your safety, and I will get done quicker if I know you are safe.” She drew him in for a kiss, “I love you.”

“I know, Mom.”

Lando reached over and pulled Ben to the floor. “C’mon small pirate,” they both waved goodbye to Leia and walked out of the ward.

*

_  
“Returning to Khaos was not something she wanted to do. Me going with her was almost a dealbreaker. On the way there she told me what had happened on her last visit. She said she had left you in the crèche but ignored the feeling that she should have taken you outside to play instead.” Rey looked over at Kylo sitting opposite her. “She regrets going to those meetings in more than one way.”_

_“She promised we’d go on a walk before dinner.” He said studying his hands. Rey reached out and took his hands with hers._

_“She listened this time. We were walking toward the celebration hall and she stopped, then said we weren’t going in there. The bomb went off as we were walking away. My backside is worse shape because I took the brunt of the debris.”_

_He was quiet, focused on where their hands were joined. “Next time you are that close to an explosion, try using the Force to create a barrier between you and the debris.”_

_Rey smiled at him, “I’ll try to keep that in mind.” She squeezed his hands before he faded from view.  
_


End file.
